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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day

Beth and I just got back from my parents. We took a cake over for my mom. It was hard work making it. :)

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all the moms reading this.

The dogs are enjoying the beautiful weather. Melo has his bandage off and the stitches come out tomorrow.

I need to give you a bit of background information for my post.

My dad's cousin Henry, his wife Daniella and kids (who are in their late teens, early twenties) Stephen (with his girlfriend), Jeremy and Bethany are in Myrtle Beach staying in my house this week. They arrived yesterday afternoon around 2pm.

My parents have a car that stays in Myrtle Beach. Beth has a truck that stays there at our house but it has been parked at my parent's for the past month because people have been in our house.

Nancy lives in Myrtle Beach at the Legends and is a family friend as well as our landscaper.

I'm going to start my story saying that no one was hurt.

Nancy called me in the store around 3pm yesterday that there was a fire in the forest behind my parents house. The firemen wanted the cars out of their driveway right away. The fire was that close. She had driven by our house to get to my parents and knew that Henry had gone out. I had people in the store so I had Beth call Nancy back. Beth is better in situations like this than I am. Beth called our house and got Stephen on the phone. She told him not to ask questions but to get the keys to the car and truck and get them to my parents. He ran the mile to their house.

One of the neighbours took pictures and emailed them.

This is my parents back yard and the flames are really close.

Nancy wanted to know if there was anything in the house she needed to rescue just in case. I said my purple teddy bear collection but Beth vetoed that idea.

Henry and Daniella had gone out to the grocery store. When they tried to get back into the Legends the road in was closed. It is a 5 mile drive through the forest. They close the road because the fire can shift with the wind. You can get caught with fire in front of you and behind you. There were many, many phone calls going back and forth between everyone. The golf course had to be cleared for fear that the golfers would get caught in the line of the fire. It was moving quickly. Thankfully it decided a route away from my house.

Henry and Daniella didn't get back into the complex until 10 last night.

This picture was on the Myrtle Beach Sun News website. It is taken from the highway. My parents is near the smoke.

Tina and George also live at the Legends. George is a firefighter and was one of the men on the scene. I talked to George at 11 this morning and they were still at my parents spraying their house to make sure no embers hit the house, especially the roof. They are also watching the brush to make sure that the fire doesn't start again. Tina has a key to my parents house and went in this morning. She opened the door and closed it. The smoke smell was so bad she thought she was going to be sick. George and Tina called in a company to test for smoke damage. They have meters in the house and will go back in tomorrow to see how much damage there is.

We tried to make light of the situation for my parents. We joked about the house they would build if their house burned down. It would definitely be bigger. Granite counter tops. Reconfigured bathroom. The list goes on.

Thankfully no one was hurt. Possessions can always be replaced. Now it's just wait and see.